Cars - Cadillac Cimarron

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	Cars - Cadillac Cimarron

The Cadillac Cimarron was a compact car built by Cadillac based on the General Motors GM J platform. It was first introduced in 1981 for the 1982 model year, and sold through 1988.

History

Cadillac's first foray into smaller cars, the 1975 Cadillac Seville, intended to answer the sales threat from Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, was a relative success, but the political and economic climate of the 1980s suggested a need for something smaller. A crucial factor was the advent of CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) requirements from the U.S. federal government, which severely penalized automakers if their fleet average fuel economy dropped below the minimum. Another was the success of imported compacts from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi. Although Cadillac had intended to introduce the Cimarron later in the 1980s, it was rushed into production early. The result was the smallest and, in many opinions, least-distinguished Cadillac model produced to date.

GM had just introduced the J platform, an economy car platform shared across all passenger-car divisions. Each rode the same 101.2 in (2,570 mm) wheelbase and had the same basic MacPherson strut front suspension and torsion beam rear suspension, and all shared the same engines. The cars were largely identical, differing largely in styling details, features, and price. The basic body/frame structure used a unibody with a front subframe that carried the lower front suspension, engine, and transmission. This was refined for the Cimarron with the addition of hydraulic dampers between the subframe and the body in the interest of improving the ride and handling of the vehicle.

The Cimarron, introduced on May 21, 1981, was initially advertised as "The Cimarron, by Cadillac," rather than as a "real" Cadillac. This hedging indicated a lack of confidence from the division's managers about the car, doubt that would soon be echoed by buyers.

The new compact Cadillac had a standard I4 engine and a four-speed manual transmission (Cadillac's first manual since 1953), with a three-speed Turbo-Hydramatic optional. Power steering and air conditioning were standard. The high level of standard equipment pushed base price to US$12,181, nearly double that of its J-body siblings.

While some motoring press critics had high praise for the car, it was coolly received by Cadillac buyers, and first-year sales were only 25,968, about a third what Cadillac anticipated. The Cimarron's compact dimensions did not appeal to traditional Cadillac buyers, and its humble origins did little to appeal to the buyers of high-priced imports. Consumers also thought it was absurd to pay twice as much for what essentially was a well-equipped Chevrolet Cavalier with Cadillac emblems, and thought General Motors should have developed a compact model specifically for Cadillac. Even though interior fabrics and craftsmanship were top notch, the Cimarron was further criticized for its standard four-cylinder engine (a V6 engine was standard in 1987 and 1988).

Even though the Cimarron had grown comparatively more refined by the end of its production run, buyers stayed away, and the car was discontinued after 1988 with a production run that year of only 6,454 units. The Cimarron's failure was part of a series of decisions that drove the division close to bankruptcy in the 1980s, and Cadillac had little more luck with its next effort at a rebadged small car, the Catera.

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Cars - Cadillac Cimarron

History

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